USA > California > San Benito County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume II > Part 38
USA > California > Monterey County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume II > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
years Mr. Comminge has added to his possessions by the purchase of one hundred and sixty acres of hill land near San Ardo, which he rents out to neighboring ranchers.
In his marriage Mr. Comminge chose one of his countrywomen in Miss Madeline Parrance, to whom he was married in 1891, and in whom he has found a helpmate indeed. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Comminge has been unswervingly loyal to its welfare and to the ex- tent of his ability has contributed to movements for its advancement. His political sympathies are on the side of the Republican party.
SANTOS WICKER.
Thorough familiarity with the agricultural pos- sibilities of Central California has been acquired by Mr. Wicker during the lifelong period of his residence in this portion of the state. Ranching has been his preferred occupation and to it he has given intelligent and earnest attention, laboring with a constancy and wisdom that cannot fail in securing satisfactory results. As yet his landed holdings are small, but his ranching operations cover a large tract of leased land and he en- gages extensively in the raising of barley, which as a rule has proved remunerative. Considerable areas of pasture land are utilized for the horses and cattle that he raises, while the meadows furnish hay for the sustenance of the stock in the intervals between the grass seasons.
Three counties have been the home of Mr. Wicker at different periods in his life, San Be- nito county having been his birthplace, Santa Cruz county the home of his boyhood and Mon- terey county the scene of his mature activities. Born at San Juan November 1, 1862, he was taken to Santa Cruz at an early age and there was sent to the public schools, where he gained a practical education in the common branches. Upon leaving school and starting out to earn his own way in the world, he leased a tract of land near Watsonville and continued on that place for seven years, meanwhile raising barley, beans, potatoes and corn. From that ranch he removed to the vicinity of Soledad, Monterey county, and took up three hundred and sixty acres of government land in the Arroyo Seco, to
619
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
which he has since added one thousand acres more. For twelve years his land was devoted mainly to the pasturage of stock.
The present home of Santos Wicker is in the vicinity of Greenfield and in this tract he owns forty acres suitable for alfalfa and barley, which he raises thereon. The larger ranch which he manages consists of eight hundred acres on the Espinoza ranch, which he has rented and occu- pied since 1905 and which is devoted to barley in its tillable parts and to the raising of horses and cattle in its pasture areas. The land is man- aged with energy, intelligence and sagacity, and presents a neat appearance bespeaking the thrift of the proprietor. The Fraternal Brotherhood and the Foresters of America afford him an op- portunity, through membership therein, of se- curing insurance protection as well as forming the acquaintance of other residents of the county in a social way.
JOHN GILSON.
' Among those of Irish birth who have com- tributed to the citizenship of Salinas, mention be- longs to John Gilson, who has been a resident of Monterey county since the year 1873. Born in Dublin in March, 1835, he has little or no recol- lection of his native land, for in 1840, when he was a child of five years, he was brought to this country by his mother, the father in the meantime having passed away. With her family of small children the mother located in Berrien county, Mich., on a farm and there her children were reared and grew to maturity. Conditions were primitive in the extreme during those pioneer days and the school in the locality of the Gilson home was a rude log structure which furnished little comfort to its pupils, and it may be said that the instruction there dispensed was of a most meagre character also. John Gilson's training in this school covered just three months, but it is not to be inferred that this represented the only education he received; on the other hand he has done much in the way of self-education by care- ful reading and he is today a well informed man.
March 27, 1864, John Gilson was united in marriage with Miss Clara Grant, who was born in Cass County, Mich., in 1846, and in the fall of the same year they took a trip to California to
visit two aunts of Mr. Gilson's in Alameda county, the trip being made by the Panama route. Mr. Gilson had a small farm of eighty acres in Michigan to which he expected to return at the end of his visit, but so favorably impressed was he with California that he sold out his interests in Michigan and located permanently in this state. Near Bolinas, Marin county, he located on a small ranch which he had purchased, mak- ing his home there for about eight years when, in 1873, he came to Monterey county, where land was less expensive. Here he bought a squatter's right to one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added from time to time as his means permit- ted, until he owned four hundred and eighty acres, located about seven miles from Salinas. He began at the bottom and systematically im- proved the land, devoting a large part of it to dairy purposes, and without doubt he had one of the finest dairy ranches in Monterey county, the butter made on his ranch being in great demand. In the fall of 1908 he disposed of this property at a great advance over the price originally paid for it.
In order to be nearer town and thus give his children better advantages for an education, Mr. Gilson built the residence which he now occupies at No. 104 John street, a location which at that time was in the outskirts of the city, but is now a very central point. All of the nine children comprising the family of Mr. and Mrs. Gilson were born in California, and all were educated in Salinas. Named in order of their birth the chil- dren are as follows: Mary Ellen, the wife of H. Harper, of Pacific Grove, and the mother of four children; Willard, who up to the time of his death was a shoemaker in Salinas; Emma, who became the wife of William Mills, and at her death left one child: John, Jr., who owns and manages a ranch near Monterey; Ora, who is married and lives in Salinas and has one child; Lewis, who carries on the dual occupation of rancher and teamster in Monterey : Belle, who is the wife of Joe P. Pfiefer, of Pacific Grove; and Mary Alice and Esther, both of whom are de- ceased. After a happy married life of over forty- four years the bond was broken by the death of the wife in June, 1908, since which time Mr. Gil- son has found great solace in his children and his six grandchildren, in whose young lives he finds
35
4
620
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
much to cheer and comfort him. Mrs. Gilson was a woman of great strength of character and ability and was of untold assistance to her hus- band in all that he undertook, and to her en- couragement and co-operation he gives credit for all that he accomplished. In her church affilia- tion she was a Presbyterian. About four years before her death Mr. Gilson bought a lot and built a residence for her in Pacific Grove, and it was in that home that her death occurred. Po- litically Mr. Gilson is a Republican and is inter- ested in the welfare of his chosen party, but is in no sense an office seeker. No one who has been privileged to know Mr. Gilson can find any ulter- ior motives in any of his actions, on the other hand his highest thought is for his fellowman, whom he is constantly seeking to benefit. Through his influence and co-operation many churches and schools have been erected in Sa- linas and vicinity.
HARLOW CORNELIUS BROWN ..
In Harlow C. Brown we see a native son of the state who is bearing out the reputa- tion of native Californians in general in that he is content to make this state his lifetime home. His birth occurred in 1865, while his parents were living in Sacramento, whither they had removed from Utah a few years previously, but while he was still a young child they removed to Sonoma county. It is to that locality rather than to his birthplace that his earliest recollections take him, and he remained there until he was sixteen years of age. The year 1881 marked the removal of the family to Monterey county, and since that time the name has become well and favorably known through the accomplishments of both father and son.
Harlow C. Brown had completed his school training before coming to Monterey county, so he was free to give his father his whole time when the family settled on a ranch in Pine val- ley. This he did with a whole-heartedness and a desire to be useful that was not only helpful to the father, but it redounded to his own credit many fold, and when he undertook the manage- ment of a ranch of his own there was no branch of agriculture with which he was not familiar. His first independent venture was homesteading
a quarter section of land in Pine valley, near San Ardo, in 1886, and subsequently he purchased three hundred and twenty acres farther up the valley. He makes a specialty of the raising of barley, having two hundred and thirty acres of his land in this commodity, as well as three hun- dred and twenty acres which he rents for the purpose, and the remainder of his own land is used as pasturage for horses and cattle. He also raises hogs to some extent. The property has been improved, both in value and appearance, by the erection of suitable buildings, including a residence and commodious barns, and all that the ranch represents to-day is the work which Mr. Brown has put upon it himself.
A marriage ceremony performed in Long val- ley in 1890 united the lives of Harlow C. Brown and Miss Amarette Winchell, the latter a native and resident of this locality. Two children have been born to brighten their home life, Vernon Alonzo and Elmo Harlow, both of whom are still under the parental roof, and in whose training the parents are bestowing every advantage with- ing their power. As would be natural to expect of a man of Mr. Brown's intelligence and appre- ciation of the better things of life, he is deeply interested in providing good schools in his locali- ty, and for the past ten years he has served as trustee of the Sherman school district.
WILLIAM E. EADE.
That the opportunities offered by Monterey county to young agriculturists are at least equal to those offered by other parts of the west, the success of its rising young ranchers proves. In- tensive agriculture has not gained a substantial foothold here; on the contrary, farming is con- ducted upon a broad system, embracing many acres and a large equipment of machinery and stock. Those who from early years have been familiar with the best methods of cultivating the soil are the farmers who reap the largest success in compensation for their painstaking efforts. Such a rancher is William E. Eade, a resident of the county from boyhood and a man thoroughly versed in farming and stock-raising as here fol- lowed. Born in Elizabeth, Jo Daviess county, Ill., in 1872, he was twelve years of age when he
621
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
accompanied other members of the family across the continent to California, settling upon an un- improved tract in Monterey county and there be- ginning to assist in the task of developing a home out of the soil primeval.
Starting out in the agricultural world for him- self at the age of twenty years, William E. Eade rented land near King City and embarked in independent work as a stock-raiser and farmer. Four years were spent on the same place, and there was laid the foundation of subsequent suc- cess. The profits of those years were sufficient to justify him in purchasing property of his own. About that time he acquired the title to one thou- sand acres in the Wild Horse canyon, where he is engaged in general ranching at the present time. Of this tract he has two hundred acres in barley and wheat, crops that bring neat returns for the expenditure of labor thereon. The bal- ance of the land is in pasture and meadow, fur- nishing sustenance for the stock that he raises, including a large number of head of cattle, horses and hogs. For two years, at a rental of $3,750, he leased the mineral and oil rights of the land to the Mysa Land and Cattle Company of Los Angeles. His country home is presided over by Mrs. Eade, formerly Miss Eva Church, by whom he has one daughter, Irene, born February 18, 1908. To an unusual extent he is public spirited, solicitous to aid movements for the benefit of Monterey county and California, interested in all enterprises helpful to education and civic de- velopment, and prominent in local work for the benefit of his immediate neighborhood.
JAMES C. DILL.
Every community furnishes examples of ener- getic and resourceful men who, beginning with no capital except such as is represented by robust health and willing hands, have risen by sheer force of determination to positions of influence and responsibility. Such a man is James C. Dill, of Salinas. No favored son of fortune was he. The memories of his boyhood carry him back to a humble home on an Arkansas farm, where his parents, Frank and Fatima (Tollett) Dill, by the most untiring exertions scarcely succeeded in providing for their family the necessities of exist-
ence. The home was in Washington county, that state, and there Mr. Dill was born October 15, 1865. There he was sent to country schools when the work of the farm did not need his help. The schools were poorly equipped and offered few ad- vantages for an ambitious boy, but he availed himself to the utmost of their meagre assistance in acquiring an education. However, his present fund of broad information was gained more by self-culture and habits of close observation rather than by attendance at any school or by the other extraneous aids to an education.
The surroundings on the sterile Arkansas homestead were not such as to offer a suitable opening for an ambitious young man and in 1882 Mr. Dill came to California with the hope of bet- tering his condition. Shortly after his arrival he secured work on a farm near Salinas. Later he operated a threshing machine. A tireless worker, he never lacked for employment and, although wages were not high, he was so frugal that the greater part of his earnings were saved. Con- tinuing in that way from year to year he even- tually accumulated a little nest-egg of $750. With this for his capital he embarked in the second-hand furniture business on Gabilan street, Salinas, in 1902. From the first the venture proved encouraging to its projector. Each year witnessed an increasing trade. During 1906 the proprietor removed to his present location at No. 312 Main street, where now he has a furniture establishment surpassed by none other in the val- ley. The second-hand department has been dis- continued since the removal to Main street. The stock carried is entirely new and strictly modern and includes everything necessary for the com- plete equipment of a model residence. The large assortment of carpets and rugs contains the latest styles. Stoves and ranges of all kinds are to be found, also crockery in varied assortments. From this establishment have been sent furnish- ings for residences as far south as San Luis Obispo and customers have come to the store from all parts of the valley when they are in need of additional equipment in the way of modern furniture. The proprietor's best advertisement is the large number of satisfied customers who have reaped the benefit of his fair dealings and honor- able methods of conducting business.
The marriage of Mr. Dill took place in No-
622
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
vember of 1892 and united him with Miss Alice L. Smith, a native of Monterey county. Two daughters, Byra and Nima, comprise their fam- ily. Fraternally Mr. Dill is identified with the Foresters. At no time has he participated in po- litical affairs, yet he has contributed his quota toward the advancement of the city and has never been negligent of any duty devolving upon a public-spirited citizen. What he has accumulated through all these years of arduous effort repre- sents the results of close attention to the work in hand, sagacious judgment in buying and selling, and tact in commercial transactions. With jus- tice it may be said that he is deserving of what- ever success the past has brought him and what- ever of additional prosperity the future years may hold for him.
MADS J. FRESE.
During the more than thirty years that Mr. Frese has been a resident of this state he has made his home in various portions of it, so when he purchased the property on which he now lives in Monterey county he was satisfied that his judgment was correct in securing a tract favor- ably located. The original purchase consisted of two hundred acres for which he paid $30 per acre, and subsequently he disposed of half of the tract for $35 per acre. The land is beautifully located near the foothills, and no ranch in the county is yielding more bountiful crops than that of which Mr. Frese is the proprietor. A specialty is made of raising beets, beans and grain, his record on his barley crop being thirty-two sacks to the acre.
As his name would suggest, Mr. Frese is of foreign descent. For many generations his antece- dents had been associated with the kingdom of Denmark, and there he himself was born, August 12, 1853. He was one of three children born to his parents, Hans Madson and Anna Frese, both of whom spent their entire lives in their native country, the father dying at the age of seventy- six, and the mother living to the remarkable age of ninety-three. Mads J. Frese was reared on his father's farm in Denmark and in looking back over his early life he recalls few pleasures or recreations common to the average boy, for from the early age of nine years he was forced to see
the sterner side of life and begin his own sup- port. He was about twenty years of age when he made up his mind to come to the New World, whither a brother and several cousins had pre- ceded him and were located in this part of Cali- fornia. Naturally he came here also, and coming to Salinas, his first work was hauling lumber used in the construction of the Abbott Hotel then being erected by Carlysle S. Abbott. He con- tinued in the employ of Mr. Abbott for six years altogether, during which time he carefully saved his earnings and was finally in a position to be- come a property owner and establish a ranch of his own. His first venture was in the Pajaro valley, where he started raising grain on three hundred acres, and during the first year he and his partner cleared $4,000. Mr. Frese then bought his partner's interest and thereafter con- ducted the ranch alone. Not only did he reap bountiful crops, during the following five years, but he also received excellent prices for his pro- duct. His next experience was in Santa Cruz county, where, near Watsonville, he purchased ten acres for which he paid at the rate of $150 per acre, planting the entire acreage to fruit trees.
It was at this point in his career, in 1884, that Mr. Frese returned to his native land to visit his aged mother. After one year spent in his boy- hood home he returned to his ranch in California, building a house and barn upon it, and for two years he made his expenses on the place by rais- ing beans. He then sold the property for $450 per acre, this being an advance of $300 per acre over the purchase price. He then came to Mon- terey county and bought forty acres for which he paid $75 per acre, devoting the entire prop- erty to the raising of beans. He continued to make this commodity his specialty for three years, when he sold the property for $150 per acre and invested the proceeds in a tract of two hundred acres near Salinas, paying at the rate of $30 per acre for the tract. For a time he made his home in the foothills, but finally dis- posed of one hundred acres of the land and has since lived nearer the city. Here he is making a specialty of raising beets, beans and grain, his yield in barley averaging thirty-two sacks to the acre. He is no less fortunate in the production of beets, and while on his ranch near Watsonville,
623
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
he received the highest price paid for beets at the sugar factory there, receiving $7 per ton on ac- count of the high percentage of sugar contained in his product.
In March, 1878, in Iowa, Mr. Frese was united in marriage with Miss Anna Lindblat, who was born in Sweden and has been a resident of the United States since she was twenty years of age. Both Mr. and Mrs. Frese are members and ac- tive workers in the Lutheran Church in Salinas. Politically Mr. Frese is a Republican, and fra- ternally he is a member of the Dania Lodge. He is one of the most public-spirited citizens of the Salinas valley and no one has the best interests of the county more at heart than has Mr. Frese."
ARDILOUS M. TASH.
Years after the gold excitement in California had ceased to attract newcomers to the state, an interest had been created in agriculture which was destined to bring to the west thousands of substantial homemakers. Among those who thus came to the state in 1859 was George A. Tash, who had disposed of his farming interests in Missouri and had come to California in the hope of bettering his outlook. He first settled in the Pajaro valley, but later, in 1865, settled on a ranch in the vicinity of Salinas, and now he and his wife, Eliza Jane Crawford in maid- enhood, are living on the son's ranch, aged re- spectively eighty and seventy-four.
At the time of the removal of the family to California, Ardilons M. Tash was a child of only two years, his birth having occurred on the homestead in Missouri, July 2, 1857. His school days were passed in the institutions of learning in Salinas, in which vicinity the family lived for many years. During vacations, and mornings and evenings when school was not in session, he gave his services to his father in do- ing a large share of the chores, and when his school days were over he worked side by side with his father in sharing the duties and re- sponsibilities of the home place. In 1882, how- ever, he started a stock-raising enterprise of his own near Jamesburg, Monterey county, the en- terprise as well as the location being wisely chosen, for during the many years that he re-
mained there he made a decided success of the business. Although for the past five years he has made his home on a ranch near Soledad, he still owns the other property, comprising twelve hundred and sixty acres, on which he grazes from fifty to sixty head of cattle, besides rais- ing large numbers of horses and hogs, sheep and Angora goats.
In November, 1904, Mr. Tash removed to his present ranch of one hundred and thirty-eight acres of bottom land, which formerly was a part of the Mission ranch, near Soledad. Here he makes a specialty of the dairy business and stock-raising, besides raising large quantities of alfalfa, grain and the various summer crops usual to this locality. The Jamesburg ranch is used as an auxiliary to the home ranch, the cat- tle and horses being turned out upon it to graze until they are ready for market. Mr. Tash has erected a pumping plant on his place, sixty- horse-power boiler, fifty-five-horse-power en- gine and a twelve-inch pump, which equipment is fully adequate to irrigate his ranch.
In Jamesburg Mr. Tash was united in mar- riage with Miss Emma T. Foreman, and seven children have been born to them, as follows: Hilda, a pupil in the Salinas high school; Ed- win Gilbert, Charles A., Joseph, Frances, Clara Belle, and a child still unnamed. Mr. Tash has always been interested in the advancement of his home community, this interest being shown especially in school matters, and for a number of terms he served as a trustee of the Sigsby district. Fraternally he is associated with but one order, the Fraternal Brotherhood of Sole- dad.
WILLIAM PERRIN MURLEY.
To the honor of being a native of the beautiful state of California Mr. Murley adds the distinc- tion of being the son of one of the state's pioneers, William Murley, who, though now passed to that bourne to which all are destined, still lived to enjoy the benefits of an advanced civilization. At the time of the birth of William P. Murley, July 22, 1858, the family home was in Alameda county, but three years later it was transferred to Monterey county. They did not remain here permanently at that time, however, for three years
624
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
later they returned to Alameda county and made their home there for two years thereafter. The year 1866 found them located in Monterey coun- ty once more, and from that time to the present this has continued to be the home of the family, although various members have in the meantime passed away. On locating here the second time the father homesteaded and pre-empted three hundred and twenty acres in Cholame valley, where he carried on farming and stock-raising throughout the active years of his life.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.